Married to the job: Work spouses
By CareerBuilder blogger on Oct 15, 2008 in Featured
Our survey team here at CareerBuilder released the results of a survey today. That survey was all about the workplace phenomenon known as “work spouses.”
If you’re not familiar with the term, it generally refers to a co-worker that you are close to and comfortable to. The relationship is platonic, but often your work spouse plays a similar role to the “real time” spouse.
How? Well, that might mean they provide assistance and support in a work-related capacity. It might also mean that they remembered to get you an extra-large mocha latte with the 72 specifications that you usually order it with – all without asking.
Here’s what our survey revealed about this trend:
- 11 percent of workers surveyed said they had a work spouse.
- Of those who indicated they had “work spouses” and a real spouse at home, 20 percent indicated the spouse at home was jealous of the office spouse.
- And 17 percent made a shocking admission: They made a compromise at work to protect their office spouse.
And who did our survey list as the top 10 well-known TV “work spouses”?
1. Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa
2. David Letterman and Paul Shaffer
3. Jay Leno and Kevin Eubanks
4. Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer
5. Howard Stern and Robin Quivers
6. Judge Judy and Petri Byrd
7. Conan O’Brien and Max Weinberg
8. The ladies of “The View”
9. Diane Sawyer and Chris Cuomo
10. Jimmy Kimmel and Guillermo Diaz
An interesting cross-section of current TV work spouses, to be sure. (Though personally, I’m a bit partial to Mary Richards and Murray Slaughter of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Very old school, I know!)
You can check out the complete survey here. And if you have a favorite work spouse couple not listed here, let us know!
